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Tom's Take: My Week 1 honors, grades, top 10 & more

By Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer -
2 years ago

One week is in the books. There was good, and there was bad. Good: Northwestern went to Cal and rallied for a big comeback win. Bad: Purdue looked awful in a rout at Cincinnati. Here are my thoughts, ruminations, honors, grades and numbers from an exciting and eventful opening week around the Big Ten.

Biggest surprise: Northwestern taking it to Cal with a 44-30 victory in Berkeley. Yes, the Wildcats are supposed to be good. But they took it to the Golden Bears on the road, playing a physical brand of football and making big plays on defense. Northwestern sent a message that it just may be able to handle big expectations. Why can’t NU be like Stanford, a school in the shadow of the Wildcats’ impressive performance on Saturday night?

Biggest disappointment: Purdue. Look, few thought the Boilermakers would win at Cincinnati, which was coming off a Big East championship and 10-win season. But the debut of Purdue coach Darrell Hazell couldn’t have gone any worse. The Boilermakers didn’t show much on either side of the ball in a 42-7 pasting at Cincinnati. If it wasn’t already apparent, Hazell now fully realizes why he has this job. The Boilermakers are broken—badly—and they need to be fixed. But, it won’t be quick. Oh, and the honeymoon is over.

Best play: Late in the first quarter of Michigan State’s 26-13 victory over Western Michigan, Broncos QB Tyler Van Tubbergen tossed a pass that sailed over the head of his target. But Spartans safety Kurtis Drummond leaped in the air, extended his left arm and pulled the ball in with one hand for an interception. Spectacular. Take a bow, Kurtis! Heck, take two bows, you deserve it.

Top game: There were a few good ones. Nebraska’s 37-34 triumph over Wyoming was action-packed, with the Cowboys getting the ball back late with a chance to win or tie. And Southern Illinois was throwing into the end zone with a chance to force overtime in the waning moments at Illinois. But I’ll go with Iowa’s 30-27 loss to Northern Illinois. Good back-and-forth and a crazy end. The Hawkeyes had the ball with a chance to drive for the winning points. But Jake Rudock threw an interception, as Northern Illinois subsequently made the winning kick in the dying moments of the game.

4. Iowa QB Jake Rudock. Seeing his first action, Rudock hit 21-of-37 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns. Also have to mention Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg, who hit 22-of-31 passes for 278 yards with two touchdowns in his debut.

5. Northwestern linebacker Collin Ellis. What can you say about a guy who returns two interceptions for touchdowns to basically lead his team to a comeback victory?

WEEK 1 NUMBERS

59. Points by Michigan. It was the highest-scoring opener for the Wolverines (1-0) since 1905, when they beat Ohio Wesleyan 65-0.

7. Catches for for 133 yards by Penn State’s Allen Robinson. All of that work came in the second half.

2. Defensive touchdowns for Michigan State. If it hadn’t scored those two touchdowns vs. Western Michigan, it would have been a very different game.

169. Rushing yards for Indiana RB Tevin Coleman, the most of any Big Ten player in Week 1. And he did it on 14 carries, and after totaling 225 yards last season.

42. Points allowed by Purdue. It was their worst opening loss since dropping a 52-14 loss at Michigan State in 1996.

13. Years since Iowa dropped its season opener. The Hawkeyes fell to Kansas State to open the 2000 season.

375. Yards rushing by Nebraska on 63 totes.

THREE AND OUT

1. Wisconsin’s 45-0 demolition of UMass may have been a bit of fool’s gold. No doubt, the Badgers looked dominating in dismantling UMass, which is a FBS MAC team. Look it up. The rushing attack had its usual punch-in-the-nose effectiveness with 393 yards on the ground. But Joel Stave struggled passing, hitting 9-of-17 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. That must improve.

2. Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg is gonna be good. Really good. The touted true freshman got the starting nod and didn’t disappoint, hitting 22-of-31 passes for 278 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions en route to becoming the second freshman to start for the Nittany Lions at signal caller in the opener since 1910.

3. Northwestern delivered the most impressive win of the first week. Up next: home games vs. Syracuse, Western Michigan and Maine. Yes, the Wildcats could be 4-0 with a bye before playing host to Ohio State on Oct. 5 in a huge game. Maybe even a preview of the Big Ten title game? Hmmm.

About Tom Dienhart

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men’s basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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Dienhart: This team always will have special place in heart of MSU fans

4 Comments

Yeah, they rolled up some yards and points–but they were SUPPOSED to do that. They still had the usual penalties and turnovers, so considering that, their OFFENSE could hardly be called higher than a “B” grade, and with their putrid defense getting a D-, their average is more like a D+ or C-.

bob jones on 9/1/2013 @ 10:38pm EDT Said:

Nice to see Northwestern’s gutsy road comeback, especially minus Colter. A bit generous on Nebraska, more like a C, but if they convert the 4th and one late they win comfortably, the call of a QB sneak was an F-.

John Jones on 9/2/2013 @ 4:47pm EDT Said:

B- for Nebraska but a C+ for Ohio State? Come on man..The Buckeyes scored 40 points and had over 460 yards of total offense..not to mention only giving up 5.1 yards per pass and 2.1 yards per rush with a completely inexperienced front 7..and the defense only gave up 14.

mrobinc49 on 9/4/2013 @ 5:39am EDT Said:

Yes JJ, and the Bucks did that while fighting killer cramps in the heat and missing some VERY key players, like Roby, Shazier (for a good portion of the game), and the list goes on. No doubt the D-line needs work, but if the Bucks are good at anything it’s knowing how to “coach up” a defense. Now that they’re getting real game experience, I think these guys are going to get way better with each passing week.